Business Models for Smart Machines

After buzzing Industry 4.0 all over the media by all OT and IT experts, today, a few key concepts seem to unveil the potential that the industry believes is behind Industry 4.0. These include: Smart Machines, Smart Factory, cyber physical systems, Everything-as-a-Service and a few technologies like OPC UA, cloud and data analytics.

Clearly, they are the innovation drivers and must-haves for every vendor of automation products that want to be recognized as leaders or challengers. Sooner or later they will become standards and used by followers and niche players, but the key question for the market of automation suppliers is not who is first in developing and providing all the nice concepts and technologies, but who is creating and combining them in the right way so that they can be turned into new revenue streams.

We keep in mind that competitive advantages can be achieved through increasing operational efficiency, but the better way is through strategic uniqueness. Companies which are heavily focused on operational efficiency are facing growing competitive pressure from very different sides. Therefore, existing business models are now put in question.

This white paper goes in-depth on ways to profit from these new business models.